Modern commercial buildings and campuses typically feature centralized Heating, Ventilating, and Air Conditioning (HVAC), under the control of a Facilities Maintenance Program (FMP). As used herein, the term FMP encompasses any control program that manages, monitors, controls, troubleshoots, and otherwise operates a building's or campus' HVAC system. Most FMPs provide a Graphical User Interface (GUI) based control panel, whereby one or more facilities maintenance personnel can monitor and control the entire HVAC system from a single terminal or mobile device. Many FMPs include performance monitoring and fault detection/reporting features, whereby the performance and responsiveness of equipment in the HVAC system is monitored, and any errors or faults are reported, such as by triggering various audible and/or visible alarms associated with the faulty equipment. Upon detecting such a fault, facilities maintenance personnel may direct technicians to the room or area where the faulty equipment is located, for inspection, troubleshooting, maintenance, repair, replacement, or other service.
Rooms, hallways, and open areas in modern buildings are typically provided with a drop ceiling. As well known in the construction and facilities maintenance arts, a drop ceiling (also known as a suspended ceiling or false ceiling) is a surface, comprising a large plurality of removable panels, that is suspended from a structural ceiling, providing an aesthetic and acoustic “false” ceiling. Fluorescent lighting fixtures, HVAC air supply and return vents, smoke detectors, cameras, fire suppression sprinkler heads, and various other equipment may be mounted to or within the drop ceiling. Above the drop ceiling, and normally hidden from view, various utilities and equipment are disposed in the space between the drop ceiling and the structural ceiling. Such utilities and equipment may include electrical wires, telephone and data cables, hot and cold water pipes, and HVAC equipment such as Variable Air Volume (VAV) units. VAVs control the temperature and air flow into a room or area, in response to a local thermostat and/or parameters set and controlled by the FMP. Locating VAVs above a drop ceiling “hides” them from building occupants, and insulates the occupants from much of the noise of their operation.
A known problem with hiding the VAVs behind a drop ceiling is that the equipment is also hidden from HVAC service technicians. When a VAV requires inspection, adjustment, troubleshooting, maintenance, or other service, a technician may be informed (e.g., by personnel operating the FMP) in which room or area the faulty equipment is located. However, the technician generally has no idea which drop ceiling panel should be removed to access the equipment. The location of a supply air vent is not a reliable indicator, as the vent may be located some distance from the VAV, with air traveling through a duct between the two. Accordingly, he or she generally erects and climbs a ladder, removes a panel essentially at random, and shines a flashlight around the space between the drop ceiling and the structural ceiling, to locate the VAV. Once located, the technician estimates which drop ceiling panel would provide the best access to the VAV, replaces the trial panel, descends the ladder, moves the ladder to a new location, and again climbs it and removes another ceiling panel.
In areas where cleanliness is a particular concern, such as some hospital wards, removing a drop ceiling panel requires even more effort. A ceiling-to-floor dust containment curtain must be erected around a ladder, such that the entire ceiling panel to be removed lies within the confines of the curtain. The erection and disassembly of such a curtain, along with the necessary clean-up, represents a large waste of time and effort when the purpose of removing the first panel is only to locate the VAV equipment, and ascertain which panel should be removed to access it.
Although described in terms of a drop ceiling, locating equipment behind any surface comprising removable panels is problematic. For example, air handling equipment is often located below an elevated floor in computer rooms and data centers; the same problem exists in locating the proper flooring panel to remove to gain access to faulty equipment. Furthermore, in some installations, various alarms, cameras, video projectors, and the like, may be located behind vertical walls having removable panels. In general, a quick, easy, inexpensive manner of locating the proper panel of a surface (of any orientation) to be removed to provide access to faulty equipment located behind the surface, and in particular one that may be easily retrofitted to existing buildings and installations, would be advantageous.
The Background section of this document is provided to place embodiments of the present invention in technological and operational context, to assist those of skill in the art in understanding their scope and utility. Unless explicitly identified as such, no statement herein is admitted to be prior art merely by its inclusion in the Background section.